What Is the Difference Between the Saints and the Elect?
He leads me …
Election is the process of getting a person to the point where they are saved, starting back from before creation. When they become a born again Christian, the person becomes a saint.
Put simply, the word ‘election’ is the process where God determined before creation that certain people would be saved. They are called the ‘elect’ because that word means ‘determined in advance,’ or ‘deciding ahead of time.’ Just like we elect people to a committee or to parliament – we determine who will take the position before they can do the job. In the same way God will choose (elect) those who will be saved. These are the elect of God.
The process of election has been debated for a long time. While aspects of it are reasonably clear what is not clear is how God chooses those who will be saved. New Testament scholars have two main views on how ‘election’ is carried out. One view, says that God, through His omniscience (knowing all things), can determine those who will use their own free will and decide if they will have faith and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation or not. Because of this knowledge, God has elected those that will be saved way back ‘before the foundation of the world’ (Ephesians 1:4).
The second view teaches that God not only elects those who will have faith in Jesus Christ, but also elects these individuals to be given the faith to believe in Christ. In this two-stage process God’s election leading up to salvation is not based on knowing ahead of time of an individual’s faith, but instead is based on God’s free, sovereign grace.[1]
What appears to be the best answer is found in Romans 9. In Romans 9:18 Paul explicitly says that God ‘has mercy on whomever He wills (chooses) and He hardens (makes stubborn and unyielding the heart of) whomever He wills.’ (AMPC) He then illustrates God’s sovereign election by referring to God’s choice of Isaac over Ishmael (Romans 9:7-8) and of Jacob over Esau (9:10-13). Paul then says that God’s choice of people depends on Him having mercy on them. (Romans 9:16).
Paul illustrates God’s relationship to humans as like a relationship between a potter and his clay. According to Paul, God has the right to, and does, fashion us, (His clay), whatever way He sees fit.
‘Does the potter not have the right over the clay, to make from the same lump [of clay] one object for honorable use [something beautiful or distinctive] and another for common use [something ordinary or menial]? What if God, although willing to show His [terrible] wrath and to make His power known, has tolerated with great patience the objects of His wrath [which are] prepared for destruction? And what if He has done so to make known the riches of His glory to the objects of His mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory,’ (Romans 9:21-23 AMP).
If we read Paul’s analogy of a potter working with clay as it was written in the book of Jeremiah, we see that it does not suggest that the potter sovereignly decides everything. In fact, the Old Testament passage referring to the potter-clay comparison, it is the exact opposite.
In Jeremiah 18 the Lord showed Jeremiah a potter who was working on a vessel that did not turn out properly. So, the potter changed his original plan and fashioned a different kind of pot from the clay (Jeremiah 18:1-4). In the same way, the Lord said, since He is the potter and Israel is the clay, He has the right and is also willing to ‘change His mind’ about His plans for Israel if they will honestly repent (Jeremiah 18:4-11).
The passage fits perfectly with the point Paul is making in Romans 9. While a relatively small number of Jews had accepted Jesus as the Messiah, the nation had overall rejected Jesus, and thus rejected God’s purpose for them (see Luke 7:30). Therefore, though God had previously blessed Israel, He was now changing His mind about them and was hardening them.
We can see from this potter-clay example that it is not God’s independent control, but it is His good will and His right to change His plans in response to altered hearts.
Fortunately, Paul provides us with a very clear summary of his argument in this chapter (Romans 8:30-32).
Paul summarizes his argument by saying:
‘What does all of this mean? It means that the Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but they found that he would accept them if they had faith. It also means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why not? It was because they were trying to be acceptable by obeying the Law instead of by having faith in God.’ (Romans 9:30–32 CEV).
Paul explains everything that he has been talking about in Romans 9 by looking at the choices of the Israelites and Gentiles. The one thing God has always looked for in people is faith. The Jews did not ‘strive’ by faith, even though they should have (see Romans 10:3). Instead, they chose to trust their own work.
The Gentiles, however, believed that God would justify them by faith. This theme recurs throughout Romans chapters 9 to 11. As a nation, Paul says, the Jews ‘were broken off because of their unbelief…’ (Romans 11:20). This is why they have been hardened (11:7, 25) while the Gentiles, who sought God by faith, have been ‘grafted in’ (11:23).
God has mercy on people and hardens people in response to their belief or unbelief. And he is willing to change His mind about both the hardening and the mercy, if people change. If Gentiles become arrogant and cease walking by faith alone, they will once again be ‘cut off.’ And if the Jews who are now hardened will not ‘persist in their unbelief,’ God will ‘graft them in again’ (Romans 11:22-23).[2]
Having looked at what election is, let us look at who the Christian saints are according to the Bible.
The word saint comes from the Greek word hagios, which means ‘devout to God, holy, sacred, pious.’ It is almost always used in the plural, saints. For example, ‘…Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem’ (Acts 9:13).
Scripturally speaking, the saints are the body of Christ, Christians, the church. All Christians are considered saints. All Christians are saints - and at the same time are called to be saints. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 it is stated clearly, ‘To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy…’ The words sanctified and holy come from the same Greek root as the word that is commonly translated saints. Christians are saints by virtue of their connection with Jesus Christ. Christians are called to be saints, to increasingly allow their life to grow more closely to match their purpose in Christ. This is the biblical description and calling of the saints.[3]
Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John
[1] Who are the elect of God? GotQuestions.org;
https://www.gotquestions.org/elect-of-God.html
[2] How do you respond to Romans 9? Greg Boyd, ReKnew;
https://reknew.org/2008/01/how-do-you-respond-to-romans-9/
[3] What are Christian saints according to the Bible? GotQuestions.org;
